The present invention relates generally to an ear clip to be incorporated into a jewelry item. More specifically, the present invention relates to an ear clip which may be adjustable to limit the pressure of the clip applied to the wearer's ear lobe.
It is well known in the earring industry that a person without pierced ears may affix an earring jewelry member to the ear lobe. Typically, a spring biased clip is employed to retain the clip on the wearer's ear lobe. A pair of members, which snap together under pressure, are commonly used. In this type of construction, the spring pressure employed should be strong enough to suit different thicknesses of ear lobe and, frequently, the spring pressure transferred to the wearer's ear lobe is uncomfortable due to pinching the ear lobe. On the other hand, the spring tension of the ear clip may be insufficient causing the ear clip to be too loose which often results in the ear clip completely falling off the wearer's ear lobe.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to control the spring tension in a resulting pressure on a wearer's ear lobe. In addition, various prior art devices provide a way for the user to select a custom tension or pressure level of the ear clip to make it more comfortable to wear. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,789, issued to Tsamas, discloses a variable pressure earring clasp which is capable of varying the gripping pressure applied to the ear lobe. A pressure controller is slideably mounted on a center prong of the clasp so that by sliding the pressure controller, the gripping pressure of the clasp may be decreased or increased as desired. U.S. Pat. No. 5,170,644, issued to Calabro, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,020,734, issued to Withers, both generally disclose an adjustable spring clamp for earrings where the throw of the earring gauging member is limited by a ratcheting-type structure. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 2,803,119, issued to Jellinek, discloses a jewelry clip with a spring-biased clamping arm to enable the user to vary the pressure applied to the ear lobe when the ear clip is worn.
Prior art attempts to provide a structure, which enables the user to vary the pressure applied to the ear lobe, suffer from various shortcomings and disadvantages. These prior art devices typically require many additional parts and require substantial additional tooling. Further, limitations of these adjustable pressure ear clips can only be carried out in certain environments, namely certain types of ear clips. For example, the structure disclosed in the Jellinek patent, discussed above, can only be carried out in a "French clip" style earring. It would be impossible to carry out such a pressure controlled arrangement in the environment of a "paddle clip", for example. In particular, prior art ear clip devices fail to provide a structure for controlling the ear clip pressure to a wearer's ear lobe in a "paddle clip" environment which is preferred by earring wearers due to their comfort and styling. However, prior art devices which provide such ear lobe pressure control in an "paddle clip" environment require substantial additional tooling and/or require many additional parts. As a result, the prior art devices are inadequate to provide an adjustable ear clip in a "paddle clip" style which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture yet still comfortable to wear.
Due to the demand for a "paddle clip" style adjustable earring clip, it is desirable for an ear clip to retain the "paddle clip" general configuration for comfort of the wearer as well as attractive styling. In addition, it is also desirable for a "paddle clip" to undergo minor modification, with few additional parts, to achieve a clip capable of adjusting the clip pressure in accordance with the wearer's comfort level.